The birthday banquet was set for noon, still four and a half hours away.
It seemed like a long time, but in truth, every moment until then had already been filled with arrangements.
Halfway through the hour of the Ox.
Xiao Wan'er and Xiao Jinghong waited outside Jiaxing Garden with Xiao Wuge and the others.
As the legitimate children of the Xiao Family's Main Branch, the three needed to accompany the Old Marquis to the ancestral hall to pay respects to their ancestors.
Apart from them, neither the Second Branch nor Xiao Xuanshuo, the Main Branch's concubine-born son, was qualified to enter.
Naturally, neither was Chen Yi.
Yet he was perfectly at ease, standing among the Xiao Family members with the calm composure of an old master.
One moment, he would glance at Xiao Jinghong, comparing her with Xiao Wan'er to see whose beauty was more outstanding.
The next, he would look at Xiao Xuanshuo, wondering when he might test his Martial Path.
More often, though, he was watching the people of the Second Branch.
There was no special reason. Led by Second Master Xiao Wang, the Second Branch was numerous and powerful; everywhere he looked, he saw their people.
Moreover, quite a few members of the Second Branch were looking his way too. He could hardly avoid noticing them.
Especially Duke of Gan's wife, Xiao Qiuyun, whom he had only met twice. As though she were seeing him for the first time, those peach blossom eyes of hers were fixed on his face, studying him.
Though Chen Yi did not understand why, he did not pay her any attention.
Over these past days, he had already seen this Duchess of Gan's temperament.
—She treated her elders with courtesy and propriety, but toward servants, guards, and those beneath her station,